Paris: The imperious swagger was absent as Roger Federer recovered from a mid-match wake-up call to move into the French Open fourth round with a 6-3 4-6 6-2 7-5 victory over plucky Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

After nonchalantly striding through the opening set amid effortless calm, Federer suffered a second-set wobble as the world number 89 responded to a partisan home crowd to convert his first break point of the match to level.

But as the glimmer of an upset began to poke through the sombre Parisian sky, Federer righted the listing ship, breaking twice in the third before edging out a resilient Mahut in the fourth.

The Swiss number three seed will now face Belgian David Goffin who beat Poland's Lukasz Kubot.